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Deadly blasts hit Iraqi capital

At least 11 people killed in bombings near police checkpoints and a restaurant in Baghdad.

06 May 2013 17:10 GMT

Two bombs exploded near police checkpoints, and a third targeted a restaurant [Reuters]

At least 11 people have been killed in three bomb explosions in the Iraqi capital, medics and police say.

Two car bombs exploded on Monday near police checkpoints at the entrance to the predominantly Shia Muslim district of Hussainiya in the north of Baghdad, killing one policeman and seven civilians.

A third bomb near a restaurant frequented by police killed three civilians in the southern district of Doura, medics and police said.

At least 33 people were wounded in the three attacks.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the blasts.

Iraq has become increasingly volatile with fragile relations between Sunni and Shia Muslims under strain from the largely sectarian civil war in neighbouring Syria. Tensions are at their highest since US troops pulled out of Iraq at the end of 2011.

Iraq is home to a number of armed Sunni Muslim groups including a local al-Qaeda affiliate that has launched regular attacks to undermine the Shia-led government and provoke wider confrontation.

Violence is still well below its height in 2006-07. But April was the bloodiest month since 2008, with 712 people killed in bombings and other violence, the UN Iraq mission said last week.